et cetera, would do this because they would rather have the republican do these kind of cuts to the pentagon than a democrat? >> boy, i don't think that was his -- he worked for something that was in the national security space, chuck hagel did, for some period of time. i think he built a relationship with the president. he is a vietnam veteran, a decorated vietnam veteran at that, and that's why the president selected him. the problem was, the senate now and certainly senator reed can talk to him better than i can, having difficulty both sides of the aisle, to see if he's ready and able to lead the pentagon. >> i think mike is exactly right about why he was chosen, he has the experience, not only as a combat veteran, as a business leader and the second deputy head of the v.a. in the reagan administration. he's got the confidence of the president. i don't think this was designed to provoke a fight. i think in fact what's happened is very unusual, unprecedeed review, asking for speeches, going back five years, asking for all sorts of material we've never requested of confirmation before. we'r